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Mark Coughlan

@markcoughlan.bsky.social
3.2K followers 218 following 22 posts

Everything is getting cutting room scrapped, unless the silver screen throws gummy bears back. Journalist, RTÉ Current Affairs (usually seen on @RTE_PrimeTime).

PostsRepliesMedia
Reposted by Mark Coughlan
John Abernathy @john-abernathy.bsky.social · 17/01/2026
Photo by Pierre Lavie. Yes this is me. And I threw my Leica. It landed on the bass plate with hardly a scratch. Another Photographer grabbed it along with my phone and I was able to track him later. I was held face down tear gas deployed right in front of me and pepper sprayed directly into the eye.
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Alberto Alemanno @alemanno.bsky.social · 18/04/2025
Wow. The International Criminal Court has opened proceedings against Hungary for failing to comply with the Court's request to arrest Benjamin Netanyahu and surrender him to the Court, and invited Hungary to provide submissions by 23 May 2025.
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Anton Gerashchenko @antongerashchenko.bsky.social · 21/03/2025
Russian propagandists and their geopolitical ambitions. This clip is from earlier this week. "And we'll help Trump take Greenland. And Canada." "And Ireland." "He didn't ask for it." "It's a holiday. St. Patrick's Day." "Maybe Ireland wants to go to Russia. How do you know?" "How? Again?”
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Mark Coughlan @markcoughlan.bsky.social · 19/03/2025
A survey-anyone site ranks cities. A gambling site uses that output directly in a press release. Media pick up the release, run headlines like 'Dublin among most dangerous cities in Europe.' Twitter users add their spice - it ends up in the White House. 2025 infocycle. www.rte.ie/news/primeti...
rte.ie
McGregor's 'dangerous Dublin' claim traces to gambling site list
Conor McGregor appears to have based one of the key views he expressed during his St Patrick's Day White House visit on a ranking of European cities published by an online gambling company.
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George Pearkes @peark.es · 07/03/2025
Man *CDC PLANS STUDY INTO VACCINES AND AUTISM: REUTERS *CDC PLANS STUDY ON POTENTIAL AUTISIM-VACCINES CONNECTION: RTRS
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Katie Drummond @katie-drummond.bsky.social · 26/02/2025
I had the privilege of talking to @apnews.com about WIRED's Elon Musk and politics coverage. Most important thing: We're not slowing down, we're not stopping, and we're going to cover this story, relentlessly, for as long as we need to. apnews.com/article/elon...
apnews.com
Not known for political coverage, Wired takes a leading role in tracking Elon Musk's team
The tech outlet Wired set up a new politics team in time for the presidential election — but its most impactful work is coming after the election is over.
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Dan Friedman @dfriedman.bsky.social · 21/02/2025
He is not the law. He is the president. In the United States that means he is supposed to execute laws passed by Congress, while supporting and defending the Constitution.
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Matthew Chapman @fawfulfan.bsky.social · 21/02/2025
'Stand up for us!' Republican shouted down as he defends DOGE cuts at town hall www.rawstory.com/rich-mccormi...
rawstory.com
'Stand up for us!' Republican shouted down as he defends DOGE cuts at town hall
Rep. Rich McCormick (R-GA) tried to tout massive federal spending cuts proposed by tech billionaire Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency task force at a town hall in his heavily Republican ...
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Mark Coughlan @markcoughlan.bsky.social · 21/02/2025
"A lot of secrecy has surrounded DOGE despite Mr. Musk’s attempts to position it as 'maximally transparent.' The White House’s unwillingness to state who its administrator is only adds to that sense of opacity." www.nytimes.com/2025/02/18/u...
nytimes.com
Who Runs Elon Musk’s DOGE? Not Musk, the White House Says.
A White House official declared that Mr. Musk was not the administrator of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency. So who is?
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Lukasz Olejnik @lukaszolejnik.bsky.social · 20/02/2025
"R1 1776 is a DeepSeek-R1 reasoning model that has been post-trained by Perplexity AI to remove Chinese Communist Party censorship. The model provides unbiased, accurate, and factual information while maintaining high reasoning capabilities"? huggingface.co/perplexity-a...
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Amanda Terkel @aterkel.bsky.social · 21/02/2025
Laid-off IRS employee said he had voted for Trump: "I thought that someone with his business acumen would have come in with a fine-tooth comb and actually found it instead of coming in with a wrecking ball and destroying people’s lives for no reason." www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/p...
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Mark Coughlan @markcoughlan.bsky.social · 21/02/2025
"This is incompetence born of self-confidence. It’s a familiar Silicon Valley mindset, the reason startups are forever reinventing a bus, or a bodega, or mail. It’s the implacable certainty that if you’re smart at one thing you must be smart at all of the things." www.wired.com/story/doge-i...
wired.com
The Incompetence of DOGE Is a Feature, Not a Bug
A series of mistakes by DOGE shows just how arbitrary and destructive this slash-and-burn strategy can get.
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The Washington Post @washingtonpost.com · 21/02/2025
Breaking news: Trump is preparing to dissolve the leadership of the U.S. Postal Service and absorb the independent mail agency into his administration, potentially throwing the mail provider and trillions of dollars of ecommerce transactions into turmoil.
washingtonpost.com
Trump expected to take control of USPS, fire postal board, officials say
The move threatens to upend trillions of dollars in ecommerce business and the 250 year-old Postal Service.
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Chris Ingraham @cingraham.bsky.social · 19/02/2025
Incredible stuff in here: They ID'ed him, in part, by going to court hearings and watching him post
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Matt Pearce @mattdpearce.com · 14/02/2025
I have a question. What is the foreign policy of the U.S. government? www.wsj.com/world/europe...
PARIS-Vice President JD Vance said
Thursday that the U.S. would hit Moscow with sanctions and potentially military action if Russian President Vladimir Putin won't agree to a peace deal with Ukraine that guarantees Kyiv's long-term independence.
Vance said the option of sending U.S. troops to Ukraine if Moscow failed to negotiate in good faith remained "on the table," striking a far tougher tone than did Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who on Wednesday suggested the U.S. wouldn't commit forces.
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Zack Beauchamp @zackbeauchamp.bsky.social · 13/02/2025
At this point, there are only two options: A) Elon is so dishonest that he is willing to peddle obvious lies to score PR points B) Elon really is this stupid
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Mark Coughlan @markcoughlan.bsky.social · 13/02/2025
AI image generation is... really good. Like, really good. This was AI generated after being trained on about 10 pictures of me. I would recognise it as me, but it is not a photo that has ever been taken of me.
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Office of NYC Comptroller Mark Levine @nyccomptroller.bsky.social · 12/02/2025
This morning, President Trump and his crony Elon Musk illegally seized $80M in congressionally-appropriated FEMA funding from NYC bank accounts. Trump and Elon stole tens of millions of dollars straight from our bank accounts--this is highway robbery, and NY cannot take this lying down.
buff.ly
Trump admin claws back $80M given to NYC to house migrants — but comptroller calls it ‘highway robbery’
Millions in FEMA funds sent to New York City last week to help with the migrant crisis were clawed back Wednesday, officials said.
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Malachy Browne @malachy.bsky.social · 12/02/2025
An increasing number of Jan. 6 defendants who were pardoned by Trump have gone on the attack on social media, lashing out at the agents and prosecutors who worked on their criminal cases. www.nytimes.com/2025/02/11/u...
nytimes.com
Pardoned by Trump, Jan. 6 Defendants Assail Those Who Worked on Their Cases
While there have not yet been physical attacks, experts have raised concerns that the frequency of the incidents could increase the risk of eventual violence against agents and prosecutors.
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Mark Coughlan @markcoughlan.bsky.social · 10/02/2025
Let’s see now…
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Mark Coughlan @markcoughlan.bsky.social · 09/02/2025
Latest work here… analysing the remarkable scale of Musk’s tweets during his first two weeks in government. www.rte.ie/news/primeti...
rte.ie
1,500 in 15 days: What Musk's Trump-era tweets reveal about him
Using a bespoke social media search tool Prime Time downloaded and analysed all his tweets from his first 15 full days working in the US government, to try to get an insight into his activity, mindset...
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Charlie Warzel @cwarzel.bsky.social · 07/02/2025
New: We spoke to government IT employees/contractors about DOGE. Their warnings were dire. The people who maintain the systems that keep the country working are terrified. "This is the largest data breach and the largest IT security breach in our country’s history—at least that’s publicly known."
theatlantic.com
The Government’s Computing Experts Say They Are Terrified
Four IT professionals lay out just how destructive Elon Musk’s incursion into the U.S. government could be.
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The New York Times @nytimes.com · 04/02/2025
The head of “60 Minutes” told the show’s staff on Monday that he would not apologize as part of any prospective settlement in a lawsuit brought by President Trump against CBS, according to people with knowledge of the remarks.
nytimes.com
‘60 Minutes’ Head Producer Says He Won’t Apologize Over Trump’s Lawsuit
Bill Owens, the show’s executive producer, addressed his staff as CBS’s parent company, Paramount, pursued a legal settlement with the president.
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Adrian Weckler @adrianweckler.bsky.social · 04/02/2025
“We are crushing it! Palantir is here to disrupt and… to scare enemies and on occasion kill them. And we hope you're enjoying being a partner.” (Earnings call. Alex Karl, CEO of (Peter Thiel backed) Palantir, weaponry and software.) Is it me or do tech CEOs seem to love the new language climate?
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Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 03/02/2025
CSPAN cut the feed after the press conference but the members of Congress and Senators have entered the main lobby where USAID HQ is located. The door is being blocked by law enforcement. Photo provided to me:
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Mark Coughlan @markcoughlan.bsky.social · 02/02/2025
What happened with DeepSeek this week? And what does it all say about our future? Trying to figure it out here: www.rte.ie/news/primeti...
rte.ie
DeepSeek: What happened and what does it say about our AI future?
The release of DeepSeek rocked stock markets, shocked global politicians, and forced major companies across the world to reassess their strategies this week. So, what exactly happened this week, and s...
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Mark Coughlan @markcoughlan.bsky.social · 02/02/2025
Summarise all this in one word… anyone?
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Your Internet Friend Tom Tomorrow @tomtomorrow.bsky.social · 04/01/2025
This is, or should be, a big deal -- Ann Telnaes, an absolute legend, quitting WaPo due to censorship of a cartoon criticizing billionaires anntelnaes.substack.com/p/why-im-qui...
anntelnaes.substack.com
Why I'm quitting the Washington Post
Democracy can't function without a free press
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Jack McCarron @jackmccarronkk.bsky.social · 13/12/2024
UN pledges to share document with family of killed peacekeeper @markcoughlan.bsky.social | @yvonnemurray.bsky.social www.rte.ie/news/primeti...
rte.ie
UN pledges to share document with family of killed peacekeeper
Certain documentation about the incident which led to the death of Private Seán Rooney, which has not yet been shown to his family, will now be made available to them, a spokesman for the United Natio...
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Eliot Higgins @eliothiggins.bsky.social · 09/12/2024
Notable Bellingcat's Blue Sky account is getting 4 times the engagement with 4 times less followers than Twitter.
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Jakub Jaraczewski @jakubjaraczewski.bsky.social · 06/12/2024
Multiple requests for the annulment of the vote have been lodged with the Court, some of them invoking the declassified security briefing indicating mass disinformation campaigns benefiting far-right candidate Călin Georgescu launched on TikTok and other social media platforms. 2/
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Mark Coughlan @markcoughlan.bsky.social · 02/12/2024
Initial visualisation of the transfer patterns of the big three parties 2011 v 2024. To be honest this one is too much data for a generalist audience, but some here might be interested. (@davidfarrell-ucd.bsky.social was wondering about similar.) public.flourish.studio/visualisatio...
public.flourish.studio
BIG THREE TRANSFERS 2011 v 2024
A Flourish data visualization by Mark Coughlan
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Mark Coughlan @markcoughlan.bsky.social · 01/12/2024
More sankey visualisations. Once the last Fine Gael candidate is eliminated, almost 60% of their transfers are going to directly Fianna Fáil. The comparable figure for Fianna Fáil to Fine Gael is 46%. The Green are getting - almost literally - none. 2% or below. www.rte.ie/news/primeti...
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Alex Selby-Boothroyd @alexselbyb.bsky.social · 30/11/2024
Fun fact: Sankey diagrams were invented in 1898 by an Irish engineer, Matthew Phineas Sankey. Your average Irish toddler can understand one of these quicker than Nate Silver can grok a two-party polling chart. It's in their blood. www.rte.ie/news/primeti...
Sankey showing FF, FG, SF Transfer patterns in the Irish election exit poll, 2024Sankey showing All Party Transfer Patterns with added third preferences in the Irish election exit poll, 2024
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Fintan Mallory @fintanmallory.com · 30/11/2024
This is the beauty of PR-STV. The chaotic spaghetti of liberty! The electoral math of our fragmented souls!
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Mark Coughlan @markcoughlan.bsky.social · 30/11/2024
My graph. In fairness - to me, now into hour 26 - the subhead on the graph is key here.
media.tenor.com
a woman says it 's me hi and i 'm the problem it 's me
ALT: a woman says it 's me hi and i 'm the problem it 's me
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Mark Coughlan @markcoughlan.bsky.social · 30/11/2024
Election heads, get your nerd on. Irishelection.com 2.0 at this link. www.rte.ie/news/primeti...
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Mauro Gilli @maurogilli.bsky.social · 25/11/2024
So many wrong takes here. To start, what makes the F-35 or the B-21 expensive is the software and the electronics, not the pilot per se (of course, having the pilot makes it more expensive, but the primary source of cost overrun and time delays was the software).
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Cathy @cathyby.bsky.social · 23/11/2024
Shout out to Rathmines Glass, Dublin City Council cleaning crews, and all who worked to calm, protect, and pick up the pieces afterwards.
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Mark Coughlan @markcoughlan.bsky.social · 23/11/2024
A year ago myself and Kate McDonald compiled hours of footage for scores of sources, to try to get a granular understanding of how the Dublin riots developed. In recent days we’ve returned to hear how people reflect on what happened. t.co/o3SWRJ3QCj
t.co
https://www.rte.ie/news/primetime/2024/1123/1482492-reflections-on-the-riots-one-year-on-from-destruction-in-dublin/
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John Burn-Murdoch @jburnmurdoch.ft.com · 19/11/2024
This is really getting quite remarkable • BlueSky user numbers have doubled in the past week and now total 3.5 million across US & UK 🚀 • Number of people deleting their X/Twitter account remains way up And the next chart is particularly notable...
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Joe Galvin @joegalvin.bsky.social · 15/11/2024
New from @markcoughlan.bsky.social and myself: Russian spy ship confirmed to be operating off Dublin near cables www.rte.ie/news/primeti...
rte.ie
Russian spy ship confirmed to be operating off Dublin near cables
A Russian spy ship has been operating near subsea cables in the Irish Sea just north of Dublin in recent days, according to vessel tracking data and military sources.
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Joe Galvin @joegalvin.bsky.social · 13/11/2024
New from myself and @markcoughlan.bsky.social: "The Irish Defence Forces dispatched a specialist observation plane twice in recent days to an area of the Atlantic south of Cork where Russian naval vessels... are understood to have been traversing." www.rte.ie/news/primeti...
rte.ie
Russian warships observed by Defence Forces south of Ireland
The Irish Defence Forces dispatched a specialist observation plane twice in recent days to an area of the Atlantic south of Cork where Russian naval vessels, including one equipped with new hypersonic...
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